The Minister for Youth and Sports, Mustapha Ussif, has inaugurated a five-member committee tasked to raise funds for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
The Committee is chaired by the Deputy Minister of the sector, Evans Opoku Bobbie.
They rest are John Ampontuah Kumah (Dep. Minister of Finance), George Mireku Duker (Dep. Minister of Lands & Natural Resources), Andrew Egyapa Mercer (Dep. Minister of Energy), Mr. Akwasi Agyemamg (CEO of Ghana Tourism Authority & Rep of GFA), and the Ministry’s Chief Accountant, Mrs Irene Sakyi (Secretary to the Committee).
The committee’s task is to undertake a number of activities to help raise funds to complement government’s support for Ghana’s participation in the upcoming World Cup in Qatar.
Inaugurating the Committee, the Minister noted that government alone cannot shoulder the responsibility of providing the needed finance and logistics for the international competitions due to budgetary constraints, hence the formation of the committee.
The competitions he mentioned Ghana will participate in include the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
Other tournaments are the Women’s U-20 FIFA World Cup in Costa Rica, World Athletics Championship in Oregon and the 2023 AFCON qualifiers.
He used the opportunity to extend his profound gratitude to corporate Ghana for the response to solicit funds in support of the national teams to enable them prepare feverishly for international competitions.
“Sports have contributed significantly to the country’s economy in a variety of ways over the years. As a result, bringing in corporate entities to support us will strategically position our sports as a major economic driver,” he added.
In his acceptance speech, the Chairman of the committee, Evans Opoku Bobie expressed his gratitude to the Minister for his vision to constitute the committee.
He also assured the Minister of their readiness to begin the engagement with various organisations and individuals to support this worthy cause.
The 2022 Qatar World Cup will begin in November, and Ghana has been placed in Group H alongside South Korea, Portugal and Uruguay.
